Realme 2 Review: Not The Realme 1 Successor We Expected

With the Realme 1 selling decently, Realme (now branched out of Oppo) has launched the successor to it, the Realme 2. Priced at Rs. 8,990, the device is another entrant into the budget market, aiming to tackle Xiaomi for its throne. However, does the device actually offer a lot for its price, or is it just another budget device that undercuts a lot? Well, if you’ve been wondering the same, read on, as we bring to you our in-depth review of the Realme 2:

Realme 2 Specifications

Before we get started with the actual review of the device, let us get the main specifications out of the way. The Realme 2 comes with a Snapdragon 450 SoC which certainly is a downfall from the Realme 1, and the trend continues with the device only featuring a maximum RAM of 4GB. Nonetheless, here is the full list of specs of the Realme 2:

What’s In the Box

The Realme 2 comes inside a white box with a signature red lid. Once you open it up, you get a simple box containing all the contents, and then some. To be honest, if you’ve ever owned a OnePlus device, the packaging is literally identical to that. In the box, you get:

Realme 2

Silicone Clear Case

microUSB Cable

5V/2A Charger

SIM Ejector Tool

User Manual

Design and Build Quality

If you liked the design on the Realme 1, chances are, you’ll like the Realme 2 as well. Similar to its predecessor, the Realme 2 has a design that, instead of a simple metal (or plastic) back, with antenna lines running across them; the Realme 2 features a diamond-cut pattern, which the company likes to call “art of light”.

That being said, I had the red color variant of the device, and I’ll be honest, it looks pretty tacky. It might attract interest from a distance but is certainly not at all appealing. Having used the Realme 1 with a similar design in the blue variant, I can assure you that the red color variant is not something that you should be considering at all.

Speaking about the back, the device now has a fingerprint sensor, something that was missing from the previous variant. It’s a nice addition, and makes the device more secure, for we all know that the Face ID used in these devices is just a joke and only there to make unlocking easy, not secure.

On the front, the device looks way different from its predecessor, thanks to the notch at the top. It houses the earpiece and the front shooter, and that’s pretty much it. I, for one, am not a fan of the notch but leaving my biased opinion aside, the device does look good from the front, especially for its price.

On the left side of the device, you’ll find the Nano-SIM card tray followed by the volume rockers, while on the right side, there is just the power button.

The top of the device is pretty empty, while the bottom houses the microUSB charging port sandwiched between the stereo speakers and the 3.5mm audio jack.

All in all, while the build quality of the Realme 2 is undoubtedly stunning, the design is something that I personally did not like a lot. It does set itself apart from the herd with a majority of the offerings at its price tag featuring a cliched design, but then again, I’m not entirely sure if Realme’s unique design would be enough to sell this device.

Display

The Realme 2 features a 6.2-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720 x 1520 pixels and a pixel density of 271 ppi. Apart from the lower resolution, the display in itself is decent.

What’s more is that the device comes with the option to customize the display as well, to make it more warmer, cooler, or remain at the standard color tone. Sadly, the display isn’t bright at all, and outdoor usage is a hassle.

The color accuracy though is something where I was slightly disappointed. I wish the device had more color accuracy, with content looking saturated at times, and washed out the other, even while having the color tone set at standard. For me, the display is decent for its price, but then again, it does leave you wanting for a lot more.

Speakers and Audio

The speakers on the Realme 2 are not that good, and the placement of it makes things worse, rendering the sound to be muffled while using the device. It doesn’t come with any mumbo-jumbo high-tech words, coz frankly, it’s not that powerful either. Nonetheless, the speakers themselves are pretty good enough for your average media consumption.

As far as the audio quality of calls is concerned, it’s pretty good. I’ve hardly noticed any device in recent times to offer bad call quality, and thankfully, the Realme 2 is no different.

Cameras

The Realme 2 comes with a 13 MP, f/2.2 sensor coupled with a 2 MP, f/2.4, depth sensor. The specs aren’t great, and the results aren’t either. The camera quality is pretty average.

The camera works decently during the day in good lighting, however, if the lighting is not good enough, the camera starts acting up. There’s loss of detail, backgrounds get overblown sometimes, and just random stuff keeps happening with this phone for some reason.

1 of 11

Thanks to the new dual-camera setup on the back, the camera also offers a portrait mode, but it isn’t something to be excited about. While the edge-detection is pretty good, the blurring feels pretty unnatural, something that is common across all budget devices.

1 of 5

On the front side, the Realme 2 packs in an 8 MP, f/2.2 sensor, which manages to produce decent results. While the camera manages to make the photos look good overall, I did notice that it smooths out a lot of the details from the photos. However, it also does make the images social-media ready, so there’s that.

1 of 4

Well, the camera might be decent, but how well does it fare against its competition? I pit it up against the Realme 1 and the Redmi 5, and the results are quite what I expected them to be. While the Redmi 5 easily outperforms both the cameras in rear mode, it does fail in the front camera mode.Nonetheless, here’s a camera comparison between the three devices, so you can see for yourself:

1 of 6

Left to Right: Realme 1, Realme 2, Redmi 5

Left to Right: Realme 1, Realme 2, Redmi 5

Left to Right: Realme 1, Realme 2, Redmi 5

Left to Right: Realme 1, Realme 2, Redmi 5

Left to Right: Realme 1, Realme 2, Redmi 5

Left to Right: Realme 1, Realme 2, Redmi 5

All things considered, the Realme 2 offers decent cameras for its price, which is certainly something to be happy about, especially when the overall performance of the device is a letdown.

Performance

The Realme 2 packs in the Snapdragon 450 SoC and truth be told, it is a major let down. Okay, the processor is good, but it is not meant for the performance enthusiasts. The Realme 2 was able to score 76926 in AnTuTu and in Geekbench 4 it was able to manage 785 in single-core and 3788 in multi-core tests. Apart from that, in the 3DMark test results, the Realme 2 was able to score 391in the OpenGL ES 3.1 Test, which is pretty poor.

In comparison, the Realme 1 had scored a whopping 138321 score in Antutu Benchmark, while the Redmi 5 had managed a score of 69693. Interestingly, while it manages to outperform the Redmi 5 in terms of benchmarks, the real world performance is a different story altogether.

As for gaming, the device is pretty much basic. I tried playing PUBG Mobile, which is my favorite mobile game these days, and the game ran terribly. Not only was the device only able to run the game on the lowest settings possible, I could notice lag every now and then in the game as well. As for Asphalt 9 Legends, I was able to render the game at medium settings, accompanied by a slight lag at times.

Apart from all this, the device didn’t fare that well in day-to-day activities as well. It was okayish, but I could notice lag every now and then. WhatsApp and Telegram notifications were delayed, and there was a slight delay in opening apps as well. I am not entirely sure if the blame is to be thrown at the Snapdragon 450 only since the OS on this thing isn’t that good either.

Software

Color OS is terrific! Oh, wait, sorry, I got that wrong. Color OS is terrible. Like literally, terribly. There is hardly a thing I like about this custom skin. The company sure thinks that adding features such as the ability to change the navbar icons and search anywhere from the homescreen should make the user experience better, but honestly, the sluggish performance ruins it all.

The icons are weird, and the color scheme is weirder still, there’s simply no way I can say that this UI is good or even half-decent. What’s more is that there is hardly any developer support for the first one, and I don’t see any coming for the Realme 2, so you’re probably going to be stuck with this bad custom OS skin for a long time.

The only upside of the software part is that it is based on Android Oreo 8.1. That being said, Android 9 Pie is already here, and I’m not sure of Realme’s plans of updating the Realme 2 to the newer version.

Connectivity

Apart from the inclusion of the microUSB port at the bottom, the Realme 2 gets everything right in the connectivity department. The device comes with a 3.5mm audio jack (thank god for that), and also supports two nano-SIM cards at the same time, along with a dedicated microSD card slot.

What’s more is that it even features dual VoLTE, allowing you to use VoLTE on both the SIM cards at the same time.

Battery

Okay, the battery. It’s just amazing, and there’s no doubt about it. First off, the 4230 mAh battery is a huge one, and coupling it with a 720p display and a Snapdragon 450 processor was always going to result in great battery life. In my usage of the device which included watching some Anime, playing the usual games, lots of calls, and a ton of surfing on Twitter; the device managed to easily last 2 full days, while still retaining some juice.

As for charging, thanks to the microUSB port, the charging is quite slow. It took me almost 160 minutes to reach the full charge mark, starting at 0%, which is pretty disappointing. Fast Charge is something that is more of a necessity than a trend, and I just wish Realme would have gone for the necessity of the users instead of just following the stupid notch trend.

Realme 2: Worth it?

So, would I recommend the Realme 2 at its price point? Honestly, no. The Realme 2 has an attractive or should I say unique design, and that’s pretty much it. The battery life is great, but you get a super sluggish performance, which on a serious note, is just not worth it. If I were you, I’d suggest the Redmi 5, hands down, which is clearly the best option at this price point. As for the Realme 2, I just hope Realme brings about a Pro variant of it with the same 6GB RAM as the predecessor and a faster SoC, which could probably sell better than this device that I currently have my hands on.

Realme 2 Review: Leaves You Disappointed

All in all, the Realme 2 is pretty much a downgrade from the Realme 1. Despite what my colleagues felt, I did like the Realme 1 since it offered decent performance along with a nice design, and sub-par cameras. However, with the Realme 2, the design is pretty much the same, but everything else is just bad. Honestly, there are better options out in the market, such as the Redmi 5, which is still the best budget device if your budget is till 10K. In my opinion, the only reason why one would want to go for the Realme 2 is that of its design and battery life, and that’s it.